Force chiefs have been forced to apologise to grieving families after an Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) audit showed 492 major organs and limbs dating as far back as 1960 had been preserved.

Acpo said investigators ‘may have wrongly assumed that the human tissue seized at the post-mortem examination had been disposed of by the medical profession or by some other means’.

Deputy chief constable Debbie Simpson, who led the audit, said there was ‘no nationally agreed policy to deal with such items at the conclusion of the investigation’.

She added: ‘The police service has a duty of care towards the families of those who die in suspicious circumstances or in homicide cases, to ensure such cases are fully investigated while loved ones are treated with dignity and compassion.’

Ongoing criminal cases, police forces in Scotland, small tissue samples or those in museums were not included in the audit.

Acpo showed that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) retained 71 major body parts, followed by West Midlands Police with 40, the Metropolitan Police with 39 and Merseyside and Cambridge forces with 37 and 25 respectively.